Choo Choo

We knew Saturday was going to present us with some beautiful springtime weather and wanted to do something fun outside with the boys. A friend of mine told me about a train ride at a nearby park so I looked it up online and found out that Saturday was its opening day for this season. I was a little concerned that it might be really crowded but decided that we needed to get out and try it. We invited MaSha to come with us, packed the car, and skipped the morning nap. As I'm sure you can imagine, it's so much better and easier to have 3 adults on hand for any outings!

To my surprise, it really wasn't crowded at all and it was awesome to see this park for the first time. There are several playgrounds and covered areas with picnic tables and such. We got there right about the perfect time to give the boys their snacks. We found a gazebo right near the train and sat them down to eat a few handfuls of goldfish. They were enjoying looking around at the train and the other kids.

MaSha and Stokes watching the train

Daddy and Ryan

MaSha and Stokes

Ryan getting a bottle

William sitting at the table like a big boy

William and me

We love sippy cups!

The train ride was so much fun! It went on a nice and leisurely pace. The boys were just taking it all in and we were trying to get them to make "choo choo" noises.

I wanted a picture with the sign. MaSha is such a champ -
holding 2 at one time!

The train!

MaSha and Stokie

Thomas and Ryan

Family picture on the train

Checking out the sights at the park

 

The conductor was so nice and made a point to come by and talk to us and then even offered to pose for a picture with us!

 

After the train ride, we opted to skip the playground and go grab some lunch so we headed out to Bellacino's. Here's what we do when going out to eat. One adult will go inside and scope it out to see if there are any good seating options and check out the high chair scene while everyone else stays in the car. Imagine the horror of getting the stroller out of the trunk and unfolded (if less than 3 adults are present, otherwise we can all carry one), unbuckling 3 car seats and unloading all 3 boys, loading and buckling them into the stroller, getting the van doors closed and locked with the car keys stored somewhere that we will be able to find them later (that part is important), making it through the doorway of the restaurant (I now officially LOVE doors that open automatically), into the restaurant amid stares and points only to have to turn around due to a lack of seating and load everybody back up! Just thinking about that makes me sweat. So anyway, the scoper-outer (typically that's me!) will just go inside to check it out to make sure we can make it work. In our limited experience, it's pretty rare to have 3 available high chairs. So the scoper-outer will snag any and all available high chairs and take them to a table that seems to be the best option and rearrange the regular chairs to make room for the high chairs. The scoper-out will then go back outside to give the other adult(s) the green light and the unloading process begins. Meanwhile, we are hoping that no one inside is rearranging or taking our high chairs from the spot the scoper-outer has arranged. On Saturday we were glad to have MaSha with us so no strollers were needed. Everyone grabbed a toddler, we got the diaper bag, we got 1 travel high chair (we brought all three, just in case no high chairs were available but we were able to nab 2 high chairs from the restaurant), we grabbed the bag that has the placemats and bibs and scooped my purse and went inside. I made the mistake of getting the snack cup with goldfish out to let the boys have something to eat while we were waiting for the food. As it turns out, they wanted the goldfish exclusively for lunch, and started crying when I tried to take the snack cup away. They definitely also made a mess on the floor, but we tried out best to pick up the big pieces before we left.

He liked the fries!

We put on his shades after lunch ;)

We've only been out to eat with them a handful of times, which sounds crazy considering they're 18 months old, but it's kind of intimidating. I'm glad that we do it though because each time we go, we will get a little more comfortable with it and get our routine down a little better.

In addition to taking them out to eat, I just love getting out and doing things outside the house with them. I know it's great for their socialization. I don't want them cooped up in the house all the time. We've gotten better about taking them out to do something at least once during the weekend, even if it's just to run a quick errand. One of the challenges is working around the schedule. Between meals, snacks and naps, there is just not a long block of time throughout the day to go do stuff. I realize that snacks/meals can be consumed "on the go" but it's extra work to pack all the bibs, placemats and travel high chairs (again, in case there aren't enough high chairs wherever we are) plus food for Ryan if I think we won't have a good option for him wherever we are since he's not quite eating anything and everything yet. It's just a lot of work. Period. BUT, we're trying and putting the effort into it. It's getting easier now that we have the option to kind of skip the morning nap and just let them snooze in the car for a few minutes if they're tired.

The sunshine and warmth on Saturday were just awesome. It finally feels like spring is coming! Doesn't everyone get tired of winter?!?! Anyway, after we got the boys down on Saturday night, Thomas made us a little fire in our fire pit in the backyard. Confession: the sun felt amazing during the day, but the night was still pretty chilly. I didn't last long outside, even with the fire! What can I say??? I'm cold natured! Regardless, the time that Thomas and I spent outside together was really, really nice.

My man working on the fire

 

You'd think the red wine would have helped with the cold of the night...
but it didn't. Womp womp.

Our awesome little fire!